Spurs vs Qarabag | Form guide ahead of Europa League return

Qarabag come into this week's fixture having lost just one of their opening six league games in their Azerbaijan Premier League campaign.

The Horsemen have already scored 16 times this season, conceding just four, as they sit top of the table with a game in hand over the two sides behind them.

They started their European campaign in the Champions League, being eliminated in the final play-off round to see them drop into the Europa League, a competition that saw them nearly end Bayer Leverkusen's unbeaten run twice last season.

The last five...

24 August 2024 - Azerbaijan Premier League - Qarabag 0-1 Turan Tovuz

28 August 2024 - UEFA Champions League - Qarabag 0-2 Dinamo Zagreb

1 September 2024 - Azerbaijan Premier League - Zira 1-3 Qarabag (Bayramov, Addai & Zoubir)

14 September 2024 - Azerbaijan Premier League - Qarabag 2-1 Sabail (Andrade (2))

20 September 2024 - Azerbaijan Premier League - Qarabag 4-0 Neftci Baku (OG, Juninho, Benzia & Andrade)

Qarabag kicked off their domestic league campaign with a 4-1 win at Araz on 2 August, as first-half goals from Redon Xhiha and Richard Almeyda had them in control at half-time.

Hamidou Keyta added a third two minutes after the restart, but a second yellow card for Elvin Cafarquliyev and a goal for the hosts almost set up a grandstand finish, only for a late goal from Abbas Huseynov to take the points with two minutes to play.

A 3-0 win at home against Kapaz followed, thanks to second-half goals from Almeyda, Abdellah Zoubir and Juninho, before they then suffered their first home league defeat in over a year as Turan Tovuz ran out 1-0 winners at the Azersun Arena.

Oto John's 18th-minute penalty separated the sides, however he could've doubled the winning margin late on, but fired a second penalty over the bar in the 94th minute.

A visit to Zira returned Azerbaijani side to winning ways through a 3-1 scoreline, as Toral Bayramov opened the scoring 18 minutes in and Emmanuel Addai doubled the advantage, before the hosts pulled one back, but another Zoubir goal made sure of the points with two minutes to play.

A Leandro Andrade brace returned the Horsemen to winning ways at home in Baku with a 2-1 victory over Sabail, a game that saw the visitors pull one back before the hour mark, but they were unable to find an equaliser.

Whilst their most recent outing was a 4-0 drubbing of Neftci Baku, as an early own goal as well as goals from Juninho and Yassine Benzia had Gurban Gurbanov's side in control at the interval, whilst Andrade claimed his third goal in two games in second-half stoppage time.

Qarabag have won nine out of the last 10 Azerbaijan Premier League titles, also picking up four Azerbaijani Cups in that spell.

In Europe...

Qarabag's 2024/25 campaign actually began back in mid-July when they travelled to Gibraltar and beat Lincoln Red Imps 2-0 at the Europa Point Stadium, before winning the home leg by a resounding 5-0 scoreline in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.

A 2-1 home defeat to Bulgarian side Ludogorets followed, before a dramatic second leg saw the two sides score five first-half goals, before a goalless second half in Razgrad.

The Horsemen were 3-2 up, leading to extra time, in which they scored four goals through four different scorers, leading to an emphatic 7-2 scoreline on aggregate at full time.

However, they fell at the final hurdle, losing 3-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, before being reduced to 10-men and succumbing a 2-0 defeat in the home leg, being eliminated in the final qualifying round.

The Baku-based side first played european football in the mid-1990s and have qualified for UEFA competitions in every single season since 2009/10.

They first made the Europa League Group Stage in 2014/15, picking up three draws, including one against Inter Milan. We won both meetings the following season in our only previous encounters with the Baku-based side as they finished bottom of the group.

They became the first Azerbaijani side to qualify for the Champions League group stage in 2017/18, being drawn in a group with Roma, Atletico Madrid and Chelsea, in which they picked up two draws with the Spaniards.

In 2021/22, the Horsemen participate in the inaugural Europa Conference League, knocking out Aberdeen in qualifying and finishing as runners up to Basel in the group before being knocked out 6-1 on aggregate by Marseille.

Qarabag took part in all three UEFA competitions the following season, knocked out in Champions League qualifying, a third place finish in their Europa League group saw them drop into the Conference League, being eliminated by Gent on penalties.

A first-ever knock out win came last season in the Europa League, as after finishing second in their group, a 6-5 aggregate win over Braga saw them into the round of 32.

Their reward was facing Xabi Alonso's unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen side, with the Horsemen nearly pulling off a shock having raced into a two goal lead in front of their home crowd before half time.

But Leverkusen, true to form, left it late to salvage a result as Florian Wirtz pulled one back in the 70th minute, before Patrick Schick rescued what was then the 35-game unbeaten streak with a 92nd minute leveller.

The second leg saw five second-half goals, with Gurbanov's side again taking the lead, scoring twice in nine minutes.

But Elvin Cafarguliyev saw red between the two goals and Leverkusen came from behind, as Jeremie Frimpong pulled one back before Schick scored in the 93rd and 98th minutes, preventing the most famous result in Azerbaijani football history.